HE DIDN’T SALUTE

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4956, 16 February 1937, Page 5

HE DIDN’T SALUTE

NEARLY HIS DOWNFALL. NEW PLYMOUTH MAN’S MISTAKE. An insight into the Fascist and Communist position in Great Britain was given to members of the New Plymouth Rotary Club yesterday by Mr. R. Wilson, New Plymouth, who has just returned from an extended tour abroad. Mr. Wilson said that he went to a Fascist meeting in the Abert Hall, London, to see what Fascism was. When Sir Oswald Mosley arrived there was a great demonstration and everyone raised their hand in salute. That was, everyone but lie,. At the conclusion he was again the only person in the hall who did not give the Fascist salute. This was nearly his undoing. The seriousness of his position could be realised by the fact that a score of policemen surrounded him and conducted him safely from the hall, then put him in a taxi and sent him home.

“Sir Oswald Mosley,” said Mr. Wilson, “is a brilliant demagogue. He speaks remarkably well and says nothing.” Mr. Wilson said he saw the Fascist riots and also a Communist demonstration. In the latter two of the party he was with were swept into the ranks of marchers by accident. They were given red badges and were not allowed to stop marching. Whether they liked it or not they were Communists for the afternoon. It was his impression that there was no danger from Fascism in England particularly now that the Government had banned the Blackshirts. It was considered in England that Fascism was a graver menace to world affairs than Communism, he said, the strength of the latter being thought to have passed.